


Poetry?

by Mad_Hatter_Usagi



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: 5x03, From Leon's Perspective, M/M, Misconceptions, Oh My God They're Idiots, Terrible Liars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-13 05:46:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2139306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mad_Hatter_Usagi/pseuds/Mad_Hatter_Usagi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After his rounds, Leon was heading back to his room when he stumbles upon Arthur and Merlin. When he asks them what they're doing, Merlin tells him poetry. What a load of crap.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Poetry?

**Author's Note:**

> Some background, for those who either haven't seen the episode of need reminding.  
> In this episode (5x03), Arthur secretly uses a magic horn to talk to his dead dad beyond the veil. He accidentally lets his dad pass over the veil though, and suddenly Uther is being a shithead and fucking shit up for Arthur because he doesn't like how he's ruling Camelot in his absence. So Arthur and Merlin take a potion that lets them see him and decide to go all Ghostbusters on his ass, but of course no one can know what Arthur did, so they're prowling the castle at night with a torch. And guess who stumbles in?- you guessed it -Sir Leon. And this is what I imagine he thought of their short conversation.

Leon smiled as he walked a corridor, heading toward his room. He had just finished his nightly rounds of the castle, and was ready to remove his armor and fall into bed. The day had been more eventful than the night, after all. The blown open doors and fallen chandelier while at the Round Table nearly scared him out of his skin, and he'd heard what happened to Guinevere in the kitchens. His rounds had been boring, and now he couldn't wait to-

He'd been walking through the squeaky door to the next corridor when he spotted them standing together, looking caught in an act. It was them- Arthur and Merlin.

Of course, it would be them, wouldn't it. They seem to always be together- beyond what any other master and servant would be. The knights had even noticed that the two of them spent more time together (even at night) than Arthur and Gwen did. The teasing insults seemed like cover-ups for them, because sometimes they'd caught Arthur and Merlin talking seriously, deeply, about the future of the kingdom, and their feelings toward certain things and people. Gwaine had mentioned in passing that they were lovers in every way but the obvious: the intimate; other, usually soft-spoken, knights claimed that they  _must_ have consummated their relationship. 

Leon hadn't given it any thought until that night, when he was staring at the two men as they looked rather guiltily back. Leon looked at them in confusion, because really, it was that time of night where Arthur really  _should_ be in bed with Gwen...so why wasn't he?

"Arthur? Merlin?" Leon said.

"Leon." They responded in unison; Merlin especially looked anxious, Arthur held his kingly 'I'm totally allowed to be doing this' face, but Leon could tell that he wasn't supposed to be doing whatever it was that he was doing.

"Is everything alright, milord?" Leon queried his king. 

"It's perfectly fine." Arthur replied, shaking his head and swallowing a lump in his throat. An awkward silence plagued the next few moments before Arthur turned to Merlin and continued, "We're...Merlin, tell him what we're doing."

Merlin looked back and forth between the two other men, searching for a lie. "We're..." He gesticulated with his arm as he thought, then turned to Leon and said, completely straight-faced, "I'm teaching him some poetry." Arthur looked surprised and slightly offended by the lie, but of course he couldn't contradict him when he'd already dug himself the hole. 

"Poetry?" Leon said skeptically, and not unamused.

Merlin smiled like the little shit he was while Arthur floundered. "I...love poetry."

The servant laughed and pointed at his king, "I was just as surprised as you are. He cannot get enough of it."

Leon struggled to not burst out laughing, "I'll...leave you to your poetry then, milord." He brushed past the two of them and looked back at them, where Merlin was watching him go and grinning. Arthur, on the other hand, looked like he wanted to smack Merlin upside the head. Leon paused behind a wall and listened, intrigued by what they were doing. 

"Poetry, that's the best you could come up with?"

"Oh, what did you want me to say?" Merlin replied.

"I don't know, something that didn't make me sound like a love-struck girl." Arthur said, clearly exasperated.

Leon chuckled quietly and went on his way. _Not a girl_ , he thought, _but possibly love-struck_. In passing, he wondered what the two of them were really doing out at that hour. He decided that it was their business, and if they were  _really_ up to something scandalous together, then he'd rather not know about it.

**Author's Note:**

> My URL is loser-angel.tumblr.com


End file.
